Trucker Is Found Guilty Of Manslaughter Charges In Deaths Of 2 Women

April 13, 1985|by PEG RHODIN, The Morning Call

A Chester County trucker was found guilty of two counts of involuntary manslaughter yesterday in Northampton County Court.

A jury of 10 men and two women returned the verdict against Thomas Hadley, 40, of West Chester, in the deaths last August of Kay Long, 33, and her mother, Gladys Long, 70, both of 1427 High St., Bethlehem.

Police claimed Hadley failed to properly secure a "converter" used in towing two trailers with a single tractor. Witnesses said the converter broke away from Hadley's northbound rig on Route 512 in East Allen Township and slammed into the Longs' southbound car.

Kay Long died at the scene on Aug. 2. According to a stipulation read by assistant district attorney Christopher Spadoni, her mother died of cardiac arrest linked to her injuries from the crash after life support systems were withdrawn two and a half weeks later at the Lehigh Valley Hospital Center.

Judge Robert Freedberg advised the jurors before closing addresses by Spadoni and defense lawyer Colie Chappelle that he had dismissed two charges of homicide by vehicle. The prosecution agreed not to submit to the jury an additional charge of recklessly endangering others, Freedberg said.

He explained that to find Hadley guilty of involuntary manslaughter, the panel had to be convinced that he showed "gross negligence - a great departure from the standard of ordinary care." The jury at 1:30 p.m. asked the judge to define gross negligence again. It returned to the courtroom five minutes later to report its verdict.

Chappelle said he will appeal the conviction. Hadley could face 2 1/2 -5 years in jail on each count. Meanwhile, he remains free on $2,500 bail.

Police said the accident happened after Hadley dropped off at an Easton terminal one of two trailers he hauled from Hagerstown, Md.

Chappelle contended in his final argument that the equipment and not the driver was responsible for the incident.

Drivers began using the double-hitch in July and the accident happened less than a month later, he pointed out.

"They gave the drivers some kind of instructions," he went on. "There is no evidence that my client did not follow those instructions. But he is not an engineer. He doesn't know if the hooks and chains are not as strong as they should be or if the air hose might have malfunctioned. '

Spadoni told the jury, "The commonwealth does not allege there was an intentional act by Mr. Hadley. It claims instead that he was reckless and negligent and that resulted in the women's death."

He reminded the panel of testimony that "if the lines feeding air to the converter had been properly hooked up, the truck would have locked up when the converter broke loose." But the truck continued on its way after the converter dropped off and rolled across the highway, and Hadley was unaware that an accident had happened, Spadoni said.

He said repeated tests on the truck disclosed no defects.

Hadley did not testify at the three-day trial. He did testify at a brief hearing that followed it on two summary charges filed by the investigating trooper, George Hilbert.